[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by raksrules

Not entirely related but I am wondering how IT Companies like the one I am working for going to tackle this as we have been called to work from office twice a week (I am one of the 10% people who are being called).

I guess a lot of companies will move back to WFH as a matter of precaution. Also, considering it's just 10% workforce being called to office, I think this was the case during the first two COVID waves anyway as well right? Some essential job roles across companies were still going to office even at the peak of the pandemic.

[raksrules]

Originally Posted by IamNikhil

I guess a lot of companies will move back to WFH as a matter of precaution. Also, considering it's just 10% workforce being called to office, I think this was the case during the first two COVID waves anyway as well right? Some essential job roles across companies were still going to office even at the peak of the pandemic.

Mine is not even in the essential category. It is just that my company wants to kickstart "back to office" plans so leadership has told every business unit to nominate 10% of people based on their grade and for obvious reasons they want higher grade people to come first to set a precedent. And I travel by office bus and not even sure if it going to be available from Thursday (when I have to go for first time). Lets see how it pans out for me.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by nTorq

...WHO says that the vaccine is not effective against Omicron, and can reinfect people who had earlier contracted the disease...

While concern is natural and well-warranted, let's verify what we say before putting it out in public.

WHO update on Omicron dated 28 Nov 2021 does NOT claim either of those two things.

Excerpts below:

Current knowledge about Omicron

Researchers in South Africa and around the world are conducting studies to better understand many aspects of Omicron and will continue to share the findings of these studies as they become available.

Transmissibility: It is not yet clear whether Omicron is more transmissible (e.g., more easily spread from person to person) compared to other variants, including Delta. The number of people testing positive has risen in areas of South Africa affected by this variant, but epidemiologic studies are underway to understand if it is because of Omicron or other factors.

Severity of disease: It is not yet clear whether infection with Omicron causes more severe disease compared to infections with other variants, including Delta. Preliminary data suggests that there are increasing rates of hospitalization in South Africa, but this may be due to increasing overall numbers of people becoming infected, rather than a result of specific infection with Omicron. There is currently no information to suggest that symptoms associated with Omicron are different from those from other variants. Initial reported infections were among university students—younger individuals who tend to have more mild disease—but understanding the level of severity of the Omicron variant will take days to several weeks. All variants of COVID-19, including the Delta variant that is dominant worldwide, can cause severe disease or death, in particular for the most vulnerable people, and thus prevention is always key.

Effectiveness of prior SARS-CoV-2 infection

Preliminary evidence suggests there may be an increased risk of reinfection with Omicron (ie, people who have previously had COVID-19 could become reinfected more easily with Omicron), as compared to other variants of concern, but information is limited. More information on this will become available in the coming days and weeks.

Effectiveness of vaccines: WHO is working with technical partners to understand the potential impact of this variant on our existing countermeasures, including vaccines. Vaccines remain critical to reducing severe disease and death, including against the dominant circulating variant, Delta. Current vaccines remain effective against severe disease and death.

Effectiveness of current tests: The widely used PCR tests continue to detect infection, including infection with Omicron, as we have seen with other variants as well. Studies are ongoing to determine whether there is any impact on other types of tests, including rapid antigen detection tests.

Effectiveness of current treatments: Corticosteroids and IL6 Receptor Blockers will still be effective for managing patients with severe COVID-19. Other treatments will be assessed to see if they are still as effective given the changes to parts of the virus in the Omicron variant.

Either way, public safety guidelines are the same. Mask up, social distance, avoid crowds and badly-ventilated indoor venues, and get vaccinated.

Anything definitive you hear right now is misinformation, because there just isn't enough evidence to definitively claim anything, yet.

[BoneCollector]

One cannot be sure if it has reached India or not, maybe it's already here. But I guess it's been reported in many countries now. Regarding it's infectivity and transmissibility, I won't trust WHO at present and will wait for further studies to come up. But what I would reiterate is that MASKS are the most important thing against this variant too.

A note and request to everyone, mask up and ensure everyone in your family is masked up. And those who have not taken vaccine, please get it.

[sparameswaran]

Too early to be certain about the potential of the new variant to cause large-scale problems. So no point in going into despair about the new variant nor we should take it too casually.
We (the scientific community) simply don't have enough information on the transmission potential, severity of the disease, ability to dodge vaccine acquired immunity etc.

What the governments around the world are doing is just trying to be cautious (because they don't know the exact nature). Things should be clear in another couple of weeks at the most.

Having said that, it is not wise to think that the pandemic is over, even if the new variant had not arrived in the scene.

The immunity against the virus (either from infection or from vaccine, esp from the vaccine) wanes with time, putting us at risk of infection if exposed. Such infection will most likely be not severe, but we can put our (elderly & otherwise vulnerable) family members and contacts at risk.

We need to adhere to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour at all times for the foreseeable future.

[DigitalOne]

IMHO, more people will die of heart disease worrying about variants, than of dying of disease caused by the variant.

[hellmet]

20 months into the pandemic, with the information we all have now about survivability by age, what works / doesn't for prophylaxis, and coupled with the South African doctor calling it mild, I'm not worried one bit.

There's conflicting information on ivermectin, but Vitamin D has been shown to help reduce mortality when sufficient levels exist prior to infection. I recommend everyone up their VitD levels to ~ 125nmol/L. And official antivirals from Merck and Pfizer are not far away.

It's time to stop living in fear and to carry on with life. If the worst comes to happen and I die, atleast I lived not holed up in a corner with an N95 mask on my face.

[nik0502]

I don’t know if it is related but cases in my city have increased by four times in last five days. We were seeing no or one or two cases per day now we are having 5-6 cases every day since November 24th.

Originally Posted by hellmet

20 months into the pandemic, with the information we all have now about survivability by age, what works / doesn't for prophylaxis, and coupled with the South African doctor calling it mild, I'm not worried one bit.

It's time to stop living in fear and to carry on with life. If the worst comes to happen and I die, atleast I lived not holed up in a corner with an N95 mask on my face.

Sir,

I agree with you. We should not live in fear but we should not be careless too. This thing is real. I lost my father to second wave and my father’s younger brother to first wave. I was with my father in the hospital for 5 days and what I saw there can not be described in words. It was a 25 bed space and there were two three dead bodies everyday which translates to a death rate > 10% and it included young old everyone. The medical staff simply stopped attending to patients. Only person entering the ward was two ward boys who had the responsibility of changing the oxygen cylinders. I have helped people carrying their dead simply because there were only two young ward boys for everything including this job and they couldn’t handle heavy bodies. The oxygen cylinders were switched off at night when patients were asleep. By the time patient would realise and would call someone home and the relative would reach hospital 3-4 hours would be gone. The hospital staff would do nothing when condition of a patient deteriorates. Once the patient is dead they would ask the relative if they are sure patient is no more but would not enter the ward to confirm or provide medical assistance. There were dead bodies lying for hours in the ward between the patients. My dad’s body was lying for 7 hours while I was standing in the long queue of covid test since I noticed my oxygen level went down. I received a call from a friend and I informed my dad was no more. Everyone around just started moving away but none of them offered me to get the test first. I was sitting in the dust on the hospital ground. I am someone who just can’t tolerate a pinch of dust on me. I never walk without slippers I just hate soil, sand dust and there I was sitting on the soil barely able to breathe while my dad’s body was lying on the hospital bed waiting for an ambulance to take him to crematorium. So yes we can’t live in fear but a slightest mistake can shake our whole world.

Originally Posted by sparameswaran

Having said that, it is not wise to think that the pandemic is over, even if the new variant had not arrived in the scene.

The immunity against the virus (either from infection or from vaccine, esp from the vaccine) wanes with time, putting us at risk of infection if exposed. Such infection will most likely be not severe, but we can put our (elderly & otherwise vulnerable) family members and contacts at risk.

We need to adhere to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour at all times for the foreseeable future.

Absolutely right. Pandemic is far from over. Europe is seeing 4th and 5th wave where the vaccination rate is much better, population density is not as bad as ours and still they are struggling. It’s our carelessness that amplifies the situation.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by hellmet

... I lived not holed up in a corner with an N95 mask on my face.

Better choice: come out of the corner but keep the mask on. Win/Win.

[am1m]

How many times will the same news cycle play out with each new variant. By the time each variant is detected, chances are that it's already spread to most countries, especially since travel has been opening up for some time now. Yet each new 'discovery' in each country is going to be broadcast with panic inducing headlines. Then whatsapp will take over to misinterpret 'variant of concern' to mean it'll escape the vaccines and certainly be x% more transmissible. Then every local authority will start announcing restrictions all over again. By now we should be used to this, it's happened with Delta and a couple of variants before. Yet same cycle.

(PS: Not saying that health authorities, doctors, scientists, and governments shouldn't monitor new variants- they certainly should. But the reaction in terms of headlines, knee-jerk travel bans (after several cases have already been everywhere), and general panic should at least be more measured by now.)

https://twitter.com/FaheemYounus/sta...92899499786240
https://twitter.com/FaheemYounus/sta...829120/photo/1
https://twitter.com/FaheemYounus/sta...30696225226756

(PPS: And for god's sake let's stop relying on whatsapp forwards as the primary source of any information! At least cross-check with a reputed source before forwarding!)

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by hellmet

It's time to stop living in fear and to carry on with life. If the worst comes to happen and I die, atleast I lived not holed up in a corner with an N95 mask on my face.

As much as I agree with you about living your life, I totally disagree with you regarding masks. Not wearing masks is utterly irresponsible. Masks are not for your safety alone but safety of everyone around you. You may contract the virus and not feel a thing but you can silently make others really sick.

[hellmet]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Better choice: come out of the corner but keep the mask on. Win/Win.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

As much as I agree with you about living your life, I totally disagree with you regarding masks. Not wearing masks is utterly irresponsible. Masks are not for your safety alone but safety of everyone around you. You may contract the virus and not feel a thing but you can silently make others really sick.

They said initially that masks work and social distancing works, but locked us down from time to time anyway. Then they said it'll all be over for individuals as vaccines would totally prevent you from getting sick and ending up in the hospital.

That didn't turn out to be true, so they then said we got to get the vaccines and this would all be over when 80% of the population got the shots.

Many countries have reached 90%+ vax rates, yet, they have to keep the masks, continue social distancing and avoid large gatherings.

Now they say the vaccine may or may not work against Omicron, but nevertheless recommend all to get a booster, wear a mask, socially distance, and avoid large gatherings.

I complied all along, even wearing N95s and getting vaccinated, but I'm now done with this. I'll eat well, keep my VitD status in good range, consume multivitamins, have a kit of WHO forbidden prophylactics, and carry on with living.

[CliffHanger]

More important than wearing a mask is just sitting at home(if you can afford) during the course of the wave and come out when it has run its course.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by am1m

How many times will the same news cycle play out with each new variant.... Yet each new 'discovery' in each country i... Then every local authority will start announcing restrictions all over again. By now we should be used to this, it's happened with Delta and a couple of variants before. Yet same cycle.

False premise, false premise, false premise. Have not variants come and gone without anyone turning a hair? I seem to recall, from my reading, that they have. They were not of any (additional) concern. This one might be. And, as far as I know, from admittedly-second-hand media coverage, it is still a might be.

And there is indeed a lot of throwback against knee-jerk reaction, both by individuals and by nations. But what, at this stage, an appropriate level of reaction is, I'm absolutely not qualified to say.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

But what, at this stage, an appropriate level of reaction is, I'm absolutely not qualified to say.

Agreed. Very few of us are. But at least- not panicking unless a qualified medical authority tells us to, not believing whatsapp forwards and website headlines that deliberately misread what is put out by the WHO, and not imposing useless travel restrictions (quarantine for a dozen passengers travelling by air, while thousands come in across state borders everyday with no checks whatsoever) after several travellers have already come in and are still coming in- these seem reasonable things to do (or rather not to do) IMHO.